With not been on a bike since my CBT, i was nervous to say the least. I had a word with my instructor about the things that was worrying me, which was, slowing/stopping, as on the cbt, i just couldnt get my head around when to use the clutch, and both brakes, and in what order. Then there was the speed thing, i was so slow on my CBT, i knew i would have to go faster on my lesson.
So, we set off, i was in front, my instructor said he would talk me through what to do as i got to the junction at the end of the road. Great, just what i needed, no sooner as i had set off, i had to stop. I could hear him talking me through it, but i had already started to panic, i just pulled in the clutch, front brake and stuck both feet down. I was so annoyed with myself, i knew i could do this, and i was going to do it, if it was the last thing i did. We went left and up the road, i then started to relax, my nerves just went out the window, we turned down another road, which had a long line of cars parked up, my instructor said, "right i want you at least 5ft away from the cars, you will have to get into the middle off the road to do it". Did my life saver glance and pulled out, passed and back in. I was getting the hang of things now. Ahead was a national speed limit, as i approched it, i was thinking to myself, "i can do this, i can do this" (On my CBT i had only gone 40 if that) I just opened the throttle and went for it, when i looked i was at 60, i smiled to mysef and thought...what on earth was the problem? Even my instructor said, "to say you didnt want to go fast jo, your not doing too bad". I was chuffed with myself to say the least. But, i still couldnt get my head around the stopping thing.
We pulled up to talk about how we felt, and if we had any questions and do some emergency stops and u-turns. That was my cue, well he did ask.. I felt a bit stupid for asking, but i had to do it. So he went through it with me, step by step, and as i turned out, the other guy that was on the same lesson, was having the same problem, which made me feel better knowing i wasnt on my own. Emergency stops were spot on, no problems there. U-turns, i was using too much throttle, and kept looking at the kerb, i did finaly get it tho.
We set off again, only this time, i had in my head, stopping, came to a roundabout, eased off the throttle, clutch in, knocked it down to first, front brake, back brake, left foot down. yay! i had got it. Traffic lights, eased off the throttle, clutch in, down to 1st, front brake, back brake......lights change to green, off the brakes, knocks it up to 2nd, throttle on and slowly lets out the clutch. Yay, i did it again. I'd got it!! There was plenty of roundabouts ahead with traffic lights, but it didnt bother me at all, i felt i could concentrate on what was going on around me, rather than what my hands and feet was doing. By the end off the lesson, i was really enjoying it, leaning at corners, well more than i was before anyway, and when i was setting off, no thinking about where the biteing point was, i was just off. Only downfall to the day was, on the way back, i had to go behind the instructor, so the other guy could lead, i dont like been behind at all, even worse, we hit another national speed limit, god i wanted to be in front, clear road, nothing to stop us, but no, i was stuck behind doing 55, i was gutted.
So, all in all, i had a brill day, got my head around stuff that was worrying me, just need to get my u-turn sorted out now.
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